Catholic Scouts from Europe to meet Pope on August 1
Vatican City,July.25,2007(CINS/VIS) - August 1 will mark the centenary of the opening of the first ever scout camp, organized on Brownsea Island, United Kingdom, by Lord Baden-Powell (1857-1941), founder of the World Scout Movement.
For this occasion, thousands of Catholic scouts and guides from all over Europe will meet with Benedict XVI on Wednesday, August 1, during the general audience which is due to be held in the Vatican.
In a Letter to mark the centenary of the Scout Movement, addressed to Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux and president of the Conference of Bishops of France, and published on July 2, the Holy Father recalls the founder of Catholic Scouts, Fr. Jacques Sevin S.J. and gives thanks to God "for all the fruits which, over this century, the Scout Movement has brought."
The Pope also encourages Catholic scouts and guides to continue their journey, offering "young people today an education that forms strong personalities, rooted in Christ and desirous of living exalted ideals of faith and human solidarity."
The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association celebrates 50 years at a less than ideal moment
Beijing,China,July.25,2007(CI NS/AsiaNews) – The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) will celebrate 50 years on August 2. Some 5,000 people have been invited for the occasion, but quite a few of the would-be guests will find the right excuse or the courage not to go. In the meantime, both official and underground bishops, priests and faithful are under tighter controls, which shows the uniqueness of the Chinese Church, as Pope Benedict XVI himself recognised in his Letter to Chinese Catholics.
This is not a good time for the powerful CPCA. Created by the Religious Affairs Bureau of the People’s Republic for the purpose of introducing party ideals into the Catholic Church, it can now boast more than 3,000 secretaries, deputy secretaries and bureau chiefs, plus many more office workers. All these people are in charge of about 5 million Catholic members of the official Church. They appoint bishops, give “advice” as to who should be priests, evaluate male and female vocations for seminaries and convents, and supervise diocesan administrations.
In such a supervisory role they have often been accused by underground Catholics of pilfering diocesan property on their own behalf and that of public and private firms and businessmen.
But for Catholics loyal to the Pope, the CPCA is the “enemy”. In his recent letter Benedict XVI unequivocally condemned the association. Explicitly mentioned only in a footnote (nº 36), the CPCA is treated as one of those “entities, desired by the State and extraneous to the structure of the Church,” which placed “themselves above the Bishops [. . .] to guide the life of the ecclesial community,” something which “does not correspond to Catholic doctrine.”
Similarly, the Pope refers to the CPCA when he talks about “persons who are not ‘ordained’, and sometimes not even baptized,” and who “control and take decisions concerning important ecclesial questions, including the appointment of Bishops (nº 8), and when he warns that “[c]ommunion and unity [. . .] are essential and integral elements of the Catholic Church: therefore the proposal for a Church that is ‘independent’ of the Holy See, in the religious sphere, is incompatible with Catholic doctrine” (nº 8 ).
The Pope’s opposition is based theologically on the notions of communion, hierarchy and Petrine primacy, which clearly contradict a statement made by the CPCA’s strongman, deputy chairman Liu Bainian, a member of the laity who in an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica claimed instead that there was “not a shadow of theological controversy” when he spoke about the relations between the CPCA and the Holy See, going as far as expressing a hope that the Pope might visit Beijing.
A “hope” which yesterday Benedict XVI would not comment. When journalists, who are following the Pope’s period of rest among the mountains of Cadore, broached him on the subject, he limited himself to respond: “I cannot speak on the issue and the moment. The situation is quite complicated and now there is not sufficient time”.
The fact is that there is an ongoing tug of war between the Vatican and AP, despite the open hand of friendship extended to the Chinese government in the form of the Pope’s Letter.
However, should the government opt to normalise relations with the Holy See for whatever reason, Liu Bainian’s head would be the first to roll.
Some 50 years after the People’s Republic set up various religious patriotic associations, such entities have become obsolete. According to an official study released earlier this year, their influence is waning, limited to only about a third of the 300 million Chinese who are officially classified as members of religions.
Increasingly they are no longer capable of guaranteeing the much vaunted “social harmony” with which President Hu Jintao wants to build a fairer China and achieve a more balanced development. (FP)
Cardinal William J. Levada:Document on nature of church aimed at Catholics
San Francisco,USA,July.24,2007,(CINS/CNS) -- The recent Vatican document emphasizing that only the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of the means for salvation was created primarily as an instructional tool for Catholics and should not be read as a diminishing of other faith communities, according to the churchman who signed it.
On the contrary, said Cardinal William J. Levada, who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which issued the document July 10, the narrative itself points out that "outside the Catholic Church elements of holiness and truth do exist and that the Holy Spirit is working in those other communities and churches as well."
During a July 17 interview while visiting San Francisco, Cardinal Levada commented on his congregation's work, Pope Benedict XVI's recent instruction on the Tridentine Mass, emerging themes of the papacy and challenges facing the universal church today.
The former archbishop of San Francisco described as "purely coincidental" the fact that his congregation's document on the nature of the church was made public only three days after the pope's announcement of his decision to allow broader use of the Tridentine rite.
"Many have tried to see it as some kind of one-two punch," Cardinal Levada said with a laugh, "but the truth is that it is simply a coincidence that they were published in such proximity."
In restoring easier access "to the principal way of worship in the church for more than 400 years," Pope Benedict "expressed a great generosity" toward those intensely devoted to the Tridentine Mass, the cardinal told Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocesan newspaper.
The Tridentine Mass is the Latin-language liturgy that predates the Second Vatican Council; it was last revised in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal.
The papal directive "was not primarily aimed at the United States," he said, adding that he feels it will have more impact in France, Germany and Switzerland and little effect in Latin America or Italy.
Turning to the doctrinal congregation's recent "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church," the cardinal said it addresses five questions about the nature of the church "and all five are a commentary on Vatican II documents."
"It has the advantage of collecting all that has happened since Vatican II up to the present time" and explaining how church articulation of its own nature as well as its views of other Christian communities have developed, he added.
He said he has been "somewhat surprised" at the amount of "ecumenical commentary" the document has generated. "It is primarily a document addressed to Catholics as believers and teachers and is intended to clarify the teachings of the Second Vatican Council," he said, "especially the teaching on the nature of the church."
Reaction to the document on the church's nature in the United States where many religious persuasions exist side by side clearly reflects the nation's "egalitarian approach to society and therefore to churches," he said, "where for you to say that your church is the one true church of Christ, and that another's is not quite, is considered not to be the American way."
"Underlying a typical American idea of what a church is," Cardinal Levada said, "is the idea that we are the ones who make the church, we create the church.
"There is the slogan, 'We are the church.' And, of course, there is the sense of the church being made up of all the baptized," he continued. "But we do not make the church. God makes the church. We receive the church as a gift."
He said the doctrinal congregation's document could be "very helpful to Catholics in the United States who are culturally conditioned" to accepting self-organized groups of worshippers as churches.
In its emphasis on Vatican II teaching, the congregation's document was in step with what Cardinal Levada said is one of the clear themes of Pope Benedict 's papacy -- underlining that the council represents a continuity of church life, not a point of discontinuity.
At the time of Vatican II, there was a temptation and a tendency to place church practices and teachings in preconciliar and postconciliar "baskets," he said. "I know I did it. There was a kind of (attitude of) 'throw this out, here's the new stuff.' I think many of us regret that."
Challenges facing the universal church include "the disconnect between faith and reason in the modern world" cited by the pope in his address in Regensburg, Germany, last September, Cardinal Levada said.
He said the pope "rightly identified as a very significant challenge" a growing view that modern civilization "makes religion no longer necessary, or some would say, even possible."
Another challenge, he said, is to infuse "into the body politic" an active "love of neighbor and the service we are called to give each other" by Christ to address global issues of war, starvation and disease.
The pope, he said, "often returns to this theme" and exhorts Christians "to use our human ingenuity and creativity to overcome these evils."
Bishop Warns Catholics about Naju Marian Shrine
Seoul,South Korea,July.19,2007(CINS/UCAN) -- A Korean bishop has warned Catholics not to join activities organized by devotees of a controversial Marian shrine, and he urged priests to educate parishioners on the matter.
Bishop Boniface Choi Ki-san of Incheon on June 29 released a pastoral directive forbidding Catholics from joining Naju shrine devotees who held a Mass in his diocesan territory, just west of Seoul. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea in 1998 rejected the alleged miracles associated with the shrine, which began more than two decades ago in Naju, 285 kilometers south of the capital.
The bishop also released a 14-page letter titled "Theological and Pastoral Reflection and Directive Related to Julia Youn of Naju." In it he urges priests to use homilies to educate parishioners on the matter as well as on proper Marian devotion.
Despite earlier warnings, Bishop Choi said in his pastoral directive, "some 700 followers of Julia Youn Hong-sun of Naju joined a liturgical event in Bucheon celebrated by a Korean priest from Atlanta diocese, in the United States."
They held a night vigil on June 16 at a wedding hall in Bucheon. An unidentified ethnic Korean priest from the United States celebrated a Mass for them, according to the shrine's website (www.najumary.or.kr). They also held a prayer rally and listened to Youn preach.
Father Andrew Pak Hui-jung, canon law professor at Incheon Catholic University, told UCA News on July 16 that even if Youn and her followers firmly believe in their cause, it is not good to go against Church guidance.
"Nobody knows what the Blessed Mother's will is. Church recognition of her revelations cannot be done in a short time. The devotees need to wait and see what happens next, while obeying the bishops' directives," he said.
The Korean Church needs to be more active in banning the activities of Youn and her followers, he continued. "Priests from Indonesia and the Philippines have come to Naju and celebrated Masses with the followers."
Youn insists she has received private revelations through her Marian statue in Naju since it "started weeping" in 1985. Some Catholics have visited the statue since then, even though Korean bishops in March 1998 agreed to respect and observe Kwangju archdiocese's bans on private liturgy and the dissemination of materials related to the revelations.
The woman insists her statue has shed tears of blood and fragrant oil, and given her revelations. Another claim is that the Eucharist fell "from heaven" at times when visiting bishops and her group had Mass in her private chapel.
Youn and her group further claim the Eucharist changed into a lump of bloody flesh in her mouth several times, including once in 1995 when Pope John Paul II gave her Communion at the Vatican. The Naju website maintains the late pope saw this but said nothing.
In 1998, however, Archbishop Victorinus Youn Kong-hi declared there was "no evidence that proves" the alleged visions and strange phenomena concerning Youn and the Marian statue are "truly supernatural and thus from God." At the time, the now retired prelate headed Kwangju archdiocese, which covers Naju.
His successor, Archbishop Andreas Choi Chang-mou, issued two pastoral directives on the matter, in 2001 and 2005. They warn that all who fail to follow the directives are to be considered as willfully opposing the magisterium, the Catholic Church's divinely guided authority to teach true doctrine.
Catholic Priest beaten and bloodied at home
New Delhi,India,July.19,2007(CINS/AsiaNews) – Fr V. Michael, a Catholic priest at the Chuhari Mission some eight kilometres from the Bettiah Diocese, was brutally attacked in his own home, beaten and bloodied in the wee hours of Tuesday. Police said that more than ten people entered the house and attacked him with sharp weapons. The priest received injuries to the head and the stomach, and had to undergo abdominal surgery.
“He has lost a lot of blood and one of his kidneys has been damaged,” said Dr Arun Kumar Singh of Bettiah MJK Hospital.
The attack has sent shock waves among the large Christian community in and around Bettiah.
Mgr Victor Thakur, bishop of Bettiah, told AsiaNews that Father Michael is “greatly involved and an active parish priest in Our Lady of Assumption, better known as the ‘Catholic church’ in Chuhari. He also runs the three local catholic schools. We are disconcerted by the assault against such a well-liked person.”
Two farm managers of Chuhari Mission have been detained for questioning.
Card Telesphore Toppo, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, also spoke to AsiaNews about the incident. He condemned the attack against Father Michael “in the strongest terms.”
“Although India is a democratic country, Christian missionaries and institutions are unfortunately victims of attack,” he explained.
“There are groups that strike at the Church in a systematic way and the authorities must help and protect us. Article 21 of the Constitution protects our life and the government must guarantee the safety of all its citizens,” the prelate said.
“The Church has been working tirelessly for decades with a strong belief in the inherent dignity of the human person irrespective of faith and caste, something that is hard to apply in India.”
“The Church,” he said, “has been providing education and medical assistance to the poor and the marginalised, Dalits and Tribals, working selflessly for the good of the whole society and Nation.”
“Let us pray for the aggressors, too often indoctrinated by false propaganda against Christian missions, that they may be freed from their blindness and culture of hate. India is a land that can teach the world that harmony and tolerance among different religions are possible”
“Article 25 of the constitution guarantees every citizen freedom of conscience, the right to profess, practice and promote any religion. Often however priests and nuns are not allowed to do so.”
“We do not fear persecutions—they make our witness of the faith stronger and give us the privilege of participating in the salvific suffering of the Church.”